Seated Postural Control Measure

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This measure is an "Outcome Measure to Assess the Effects of Adaptive Seating Intervention for Children with Neuromotor Disabilities."

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Seated postural control measure for children

The research version of the Seated Postural Control Measure (SPCM) has been created as an outcome measure of adaptive seating interventions. It is designed to measure change in postural control as a result of adaptive seating intervention.

As this research version of the SPCM is not validated, its responsiveness to detect clinically significant change has not yet been determined. It is available as a research edition for use by investigators interested in its measurement capabilities.

The two domains of sitting behaviours measured are static postural alignment and functional movement. The alignment section consists of 22 graphically depicted items that measure the alignment of each body segment. Deviation away from neutral alignment is scored on a 4 point ordinal scale. The function section is comprised of 12 functional movement items which examine the achievement of seated functions. Items are scored on a 4 point ordinal scale reflecting increasing task achievement. The research version consists of 34 items that can be scored in a clinical setting in less than 30 minutes.

The SPCM was developed by a team of clinicians at Sunny Hill Health Centre for Children in Vancouver, Canada and was designed for occupational therapists and physiotherapists who are experienced in assessing children's sitting abilities and in prescribing adaptive seating systems.

The SPCM when validated may assist therapists in the selection of seating interventions for individual children, provide a standard method of documenting changes and provide a means of collecting outcome data for seating clinic program evaluation and quality assurance activities.

Forward & Acknowledgements

Chapter 1 - Overview with information on test developers, the purpose of developing the test and its uses, expected qualifications of test users and the limitations of the test.

Chapter 2 - Theoretical Background: selection of a conceptual framework of the postural control system and selection of a measurement framework.

Chapter 3 - Test Construction: establishing item specifications based on the postural control theory and measurement frameworks. Items generated and scaled for selection.

Seated postural control measure for adults

Developed by Brigitte Gagnon at Laval University within the framework of the experimental medicine masters program (rehabilitation) under the direction of Claude Vincent and Luc Noreau, aggregate professors at the rehabilitation department, with support from the Centre interdisciplinaire de recherche en réadaptation et en intégration sociale (CIRRIS) and the Institut de réadaptation en déficience physique de Québec (IRDPQ).

The Seated Postural Control Measure for Adults SPCMA is a clinical instrument for evaluating the postural alignment of adults in their wheelchair as well as the impact of a functional task (moving their wheelchair) on functional control. Also, it allows the evaluation of changes in the seated postural control due to evolution in time or the effect of an adaptive seating intervention. It was inspired by the Seated Postural Control Measure (SPCM), a clinical tool for evaluating seating posture and the sitting behaviors of the pediatric clientele using a wheelchair (Fife et al., 1991, Roxborough et al., 1994).

The Administration Guide, available only in a French version, has undergone test-retest and inter-rater reliability verification (Gagnon et al., 2002).

The English version of the SPCMA Scoring Form is a translation of the French one, la Mesure du controle pôstural assis chez l'adulte (MCPAA) and is presented here . The scoring form contains three sections: